LETTER: Being the best that you can be

George Will's column on Thursday's editorial page is so beside the point. He's talking about a society that produces the kind of affluence that breeds the greed and selfishness that is endemic in our culture today. He is talking about making money.

My perfect society would give every individual both the opportunity and the responsibility to fulfill their own potential. I would like to see children growing up understanding that they would be expected to, at the very least, be self-sustaining.

The key to the ability to do that is excellence. You have to be very good at doing something, whether it be mopping floors, cooking food, fixing plumbing, building structures, teaching, writing books or designing computer systems, to make a living at it.

Shouldn't our goal as a society be producing people who are good at what they do, people who are happy because they are working at something they like doing? We need to forget Will's shallow concept of "upward mobility" and teach our children to grow up to be the best they can be at what they choose to do.